Faridabad engineer 'drowns' in US lake

A 30-year-old software engineer from Faridabad, Vidyasagar Kapoor was found dead in Lake Michigan near Chicago in the US.

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Vikas Kalia

July 8, 2010

UPDATED: July 8, 2010 10:23 IST

A 30-year-old software engineer from Faridabad has been found dead in Lake Michigan near Chicago in the US. The body of Vidyasagar Kapoor, who arrived in the US on May 21 to work on a multi-national company's project, was brought home.

He went missing on June 19 and the police later found his body in Lake Michigan. Kapoor had been in regular contact with his relatives until a lull in communication around mid-June, which prompted the worried family to contact his company office in Noida.

His widowed mother, Rajrani, last spoke to him on June 19 after which she didn't hear from him, said one of Kapoor's relatives.

"Anxious enquiries with his company about his whereabouts yielded little. The hotel management informed us that Kapoor had left for the day on June 19 and had not returned," said Shyam Sundar, Kapoor's uncle.

Another uncle, Puran, said they were worried after they came across a news item on television which reported the shooting death of an Indian techie in Chicago.

Puran said: "We panicked and immediately tried to contact him. But when we spoke to his colleagues in the office he was based at in Chicago they told us he hadn't reported to work. The hotel he was staying in said he hadn't returned," said Puran.

The company then conducted a search of his room and later filed a missing person report with the Chicago police. Kapoor's relatives then approached the Faridabad police commissioner. Prashant Kumar Agarwal.

US authorities recovered Kapoor's body from Lake Michigan and informed his management personnel at his office.

Officials at the Indian consulate in Chicago verified the identity of the deceased and initiated preparations to repatriate Kapoor's body.

"All the necessary paperwork with the local authorities was done last Thursday," a consulate official said. "We issued a 'No Objection Certificate' (NOC) and the body was transported to India on Saturday," he added.

Along with the body, Puran revealed that they have received a copy of the medical examination and post- mortem report on Kapoor that suggest that the cause of death was drowning.

"We have so far no reason to suspect these findings, though we haven't yet had the time to go through the documents in detail," Puran said.

Incredibly, Kapoor's mother was not informed about his death until his body arrived home. He was Rajrani's only child and her husband had died a few years ago. She had been preparing to make arrangements to get him married.